Company strategy and training and development strategy must be in alignment in order for training and development to meet organizational needs and be effective. According to the Association for Talent Development (ATD), “If the organization is to successfully act on its strategy and meet its goals, the workforce must possess the necessary skills to carry out the actions described in the strategy.” All levels of management must buy in to the idea that training and corporate strategy have to be in alignment in order for training and development activities to be effective.

A good way to get top managers to buy into the company’s training and development strategy is to have them experience a portion of the flagship training and development programs for themselves. Once they have actively participated, they will be more likely to play a key role in content and delivery of the programs for other leaders in the company. With a rapidly changing environment, evolving strategies require innovative solutions and training methodology.

One way to create state-of-the-art training content is to use realistic, live strategy cases and action learning, which are company-specific. This creates transparency, as well as provides trainees with up-to-date information on strategic issues for the company. Recently published research argues that training and development programs used to enhance corporate strategy are more likely to lead to greater productivity among employees and profitability for the organization.

Another important consideration is to link compensation to training involvement, which helps create a rich culture that values training and development at all levels of the company. Although most leaders agree that companies following a differentiation strategy clearly benefit from a training and development strategy, cost leadership companies can also benefit from comprehensive training and development. With training and development strategy, workers are trained on the company’s core competency, and development activities focus on engaging employees with well-developed succession plans to retain and challenge workers when growth is slow.

Organizations may also choose to cross-train employees so those who are retained can also do the jobs of those who are released from the company.